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Living through riots, learning to teach yoga as a senior, accepting your true self and conquering all odds. This year we celebrate International Women’s Week with a Cabaret of Monologues and performance art that shines a spotlight on the the many ways in which women are unstoppable. Join us in the theatre on March 10th to see the full line-up. We are thrilled to announce that we will be providing ASL interpreters at the performance.

If you are part of a community group looking for a way to celebrate, book a selection of pieces to host!

We are thrilled to announce this year’s incredible line-up!

Saviour Self by Andrea Scott
Performed by Reena Jolly
Where were you in 1992 when Yonge Street exploded in riots? Josephine Benedict was a swaggering teenager looking to take care of herself, one tampon at a time.

Flight 182 created and performed by Anjali SandhuWhere are you from? The Jungle Book, 20th century supermodels, ignorant politicians…nothing will stop Rani from being accepted as Canadian.

I Got 99 Problems, My Penis is Just One created and performed by Cynthia Fortlage
One transgender woman’s exploration of her journey to womanhood. This piece delves deep into Learning to be a Feminist, Loss of Privilege, and the Subtleties of Sisterhood.

I Am Unstoppable created and performed by Joanna Hawkins
Can you remember a time when nothing stood in your way? The innocence of childhood can make you feel unstoppable, but how do we persevere after the barriers and discrimination in the dominant world are fully perceived? Deaf artist, Joanna Hawkins explores this through mime.

Captain of My Ship by Kathy France
Performed by Ady Kay in collaboration with Victoria Hill and Emily Solstice
A woman recounts her coming of age story, reliving the confusion and fear that define a young woman’s entry into sexual awareness.

I’ve Never Been Very Good at Drawing Hearts, But I Keep Tryingby A.b. NorrisPerformed by Monica Thurn und Taxis
Using images captured during a lunar eclipse, this audio-visual media and collaborative performance piece explores (dis)connection between the persistent need to love/be loved and actually being good at either.

I Am a Warrior by Sue Higgs
Cathy signs up for a course. Nothing unusual about that, except for the fact that Cathy is in her late 60’s in a class full of twenty-something’s.

Sweet An Nice by Althea Cunningham
Performed by Lorraine James
Pregnant with a child, Jamaican immigrant Celestine seeks a better life in a new country. After getting a family to sponsor her, she moves thousands of miles across several oceans to discover it’s far from what she imagined it to be.

ObScene created and performed by Kristy Janvier
By holding onto our beliefs or judgements, how can we create connection? A performance art piece that explores healthy sensuality as a means of release.

Perfect Pie by Judith Thompson Performed by Anna Binder
When prompted by a long-estranged friend, Patsy explains what it’s like to have an epileptic seizure. From master playwright Judith Thompson’s ground-breaking play about how you cannot escape where you come from.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we get to know the artists involved!

Let the countdown begin! Just two days until we take over the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film and some other spaces to showcase the best in Canadian theatre by women for everyone. You bet we are beyond excited for FemFest 2017: Coming of Age.

This year’s festival is jam-packed with stuff you won’t find anywhere else. Our 15th annual festival is guaranteed to leave a lasting impact on you. Here’s the festival breakdown to help you plan your FemFest-filled week!

Ivan Coyote Reading
SEPT 16 • 4 PM

FemFest brings you the opportunity to meet & greet this multiple award-winning writer and LGBTQ advocate. This event is free and catered by Elements Restaurant—need we say more?

This city is home to female playwrights who challenge us, question us, inspire us and make us laugh. Check out their newest work in development along with a reading by guest playwright Judith Thompson. Made possible with the support of the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada and the Canada Councils’ PlayConnect program.

We absolutely love launching into FemFest with a dazzling Cabaret showcase of some of the most talented entertainers this city has to offer. The Cabaret has it all: everything from music, dance, comedy, theatre, film and a party to follow! Come and celebrate the launch of our 15th annual FemFest with us and enjoy this unstoppable line up of entertainment.

BUNNY

Arguably Winnipeg’s best all-female-90’s-R&B-comedy-ukulele-duo, Bunny members B-Rabbit and HunnyBunny’s charming and unapologetic attitude will take you by surprise. This is the perfect duo to host the opening Cabaret, singing about everything from Instagram to networking to unsatisfying sex, this disarming pair doesn’t shy away from taboo subjects and real-life problems.

Prairie Caravan Tribal Bellydancers

The awe-inspiring Prairie Caravan Tribal Bellydancers are back to entertain at another Cabaret! “Our women are a gorgeous mix of sizes, ages, and certainly personalities, but that is the beauty of Tribal”, says the troupe. “We are proud to say our troupe represents FIVE decades of age ranges among our ladies, proving that age is only a state of mind.”

Chimwemwe Undi

Chimwemwe Undi is a local poet and linguist, who has performed across Canada and the UK, and has been published widely. We’ve been hoping Chim would be in town for the Cabaret for a couple years now and we are so excited to have finally have her here to perform for all of you!

Phenomenal talents RobYn Slade and Jane Testar of Outside Joke take you on the wildly fun, unpredictable ride that is 50/50 Improv-Theatre Fusion. Actors have learned their half of the scene while talented improvisers go in blind. Audiences watch as each unlikely pair creates non-stop entertainment that will never be seen again.

RobYn Slade and Jane Testar

Logan Jax

Logan Jax is a Cabaret past fave! Born on the day of Elvis, Logan took his first steps back in May 2015. Now, Logan is exploring his new voice and the world around him as his authentic self. Logan is writing, but not by way of music. Logan is writing policy that would protect transgender inmates from discrimination and violence in Manitoba prisons. While Logan isn’t busy smashing the patriarchy, he’s cuddling with his beautiful daughter who lights his life.

“I am a Sign Language Interpreter (by day) and have not done enough Stand Up to even call myself a stand-up comedian!”, says Dianna Rasing. But the audiences who saw Rasing’s breakout stand up set at Sick & Twisted’s Lame Is… a disability cabaret would say otherwise! Although brand new to stand up, Dianna’s sense of humour shines strong. You might also recognize her from the 2016 Winnipeg Fringe Festival where she wrote & performed Seducing Father Brian.

Charlene Moore

Charlene Moore is the director and producer of Moccasin Stories as well as a masters student of the Indigenous Governance program at the University of Winnipeg . “Moccasin Stories is my way of educating Manitoba on the reason for loss of this skillful craft”, says Moore, “[of] how this skill is coming back, and how resourceful, skillful, strong, and powerful Indigenous women are.” We are thrilled to give you a sneak peek of this awesome new film.

Ady Kay, Emily Solstice and Victoria Emilie Hill combine forces to perform Green. Ady and Victoria are recent graduates of the Honours Acting Program at the U of W, and have continued to work together on projects such as The Patriarchy, their two-woman Acapella band. Emily Solstice is a dancer in the School of Contemporary Dancers Senior Professional Program and has worked as a choreographer and performer in Winnipeg and across Canada. They aspire to create meaningful movement based work and collaborate with other artists working in various mediums.

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Connie Chappel

Visual art joins our Cabaret thanks to MAWA. Connie Chappel’s piece Away from the Dark is a mixed media assemblage sculpture composed of familiar forms that reference the natural landscape and investigate life cycles through connections of fragments that transform from one material, structure or state to another. Away from the Dark will be displayed in the theatre all evening.

Kaitlin Aiello

Rachel Smith

Mindy and Marge are worldly travellers! The nomadic duo has done so much travelling that they feel it is their duty to pass on their wisdom to others. You may have already received expert travel advice from them if you saw Tourology: A Mindy and Marge Adventure as part of the Winnipeg and Edmonton Fringe Festivals in 2015, or Iceology: A Mindy and Marge Adventure as part of One Trunk Theatre’s Dollhouse of Commons last winter. Now enjoy Worldly Rituals: A Mindy and Marge Presentation at the Cabaret!

Stick around and mingle over pizza generously supplied by Garbonzo’s at the U of W AnX and wine from The Winehouse at our reception party after the show. We can’t wait to launch FemFest 2017 with you!

Sarasvàti Productions invites you to envision a season of life-changing theatre that is inclusive, full of possibility and absolutely thrilling!

From FemFest 2017: Coming of Age to the 2018 International Women’s Week Cabaret of Monologues: I Am Unstoppable, to a formidable season of workshops geared to supporting youth and emerging artists: we are so excited to get started! Join us on August 4th at the Saddlery on Market (114 Market Ave)–a beautiful new spot in the Exchange District. This party is absolutely free. Show up by 7pm to enjoy the entire evening, or pop in throughout your First Friday adventures.

We’ll be celebrating FemFest’s 15th birthday by having some of our staff and artists share things they wrote as a child.

Let us entertain you with a Cabaret-style line-up featuring artists from our season to come. RobYn Slade presents a sampling of 50/50 theatre-improv fusion from the FemFest 2017 Cabaret. Reena Jolly performs a monologue devised from interviews with young newcomer women as part of New Beginnings development. Melanee Deschambeault and Erica Wilson perform a teaser from FemFest featured show Two Indians and much, much more!

See what you envision at our awesome build-your-own kaleidoscope station courtesy of ArtsJunktion mb.

And as always we’ll have plenty of decadent cupcakes supplied generously by Cake-ology.

Our beloved festival in support of women playwrights turns 15 this year! We are celebrating with the theme Coming of Age and a line-up that will blow you away.

We are ecstatic to be bringing in one of the most highly regarded playwright’s in Canadian history, two-time Governor General award-winning playwright Judith Thompson! Thompson will join us for Mulgrave Road Theatre’s production of her play Watching Glory Die, a harrowing play based on the true story of Ashley Smith. She will also teach a playwriting master class (September 20, 21 and 22 from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.) give a Real Thing lecture and be part of the Human Library ™.

Watching Glory Die

Judith Thompson

Tomboy Survival Guide is a live stage experience that defies genre and gender boxes with fearless truth-telling and compassionate defiance. Ivan Coyote and an all-tomboy band take the audience on a musical journey navigating the narrow halls of public washrooms, skirting the childhood threat of being picked to be a flower girl, triumphing over tying a double Windsor knot, and discovering the beauty in being handsome, not pretty, all along. This is also our first time taking FemFest to the West End Cultural Centre!

We focus our in-house attention on producing Two Indians by Falen Johnson directed by Sonya Ballantyne. After years apart two cousins meet in a Toronto alley to recreate a ceremony from their childhood, but can they remember how? When the words missing and murdered, truth and reconciliation, occupation and resistance are everywhere, how do two Mohawk women stand their ground?

We’ll share a workshop preview of New Beginnings, a work in development created with the Winnipeg newcomer and refugee community. Come and see a preview of this exciting culmination of story and dance from around the world.
As a company dedicated to transforming society through theatre, we’ve witnessed the impact that story-sharing can have on breaking down stereotypes and prejudices. This year we are thrilled to present a Human Library ™ as part of FemFest. In partnership with the Millennium Library, Sarasvàti Productions has curated an incredible line up of Human Books that you can ‘take out’ for a one-of-a-kind learning experience.

The beloved Bake-Off is back! This FemFest favourite challenges 5 local female playwrights to write a scene in 8-hours using three key top-secret ingredients. Scenes will be performed as part of the Festival on Sept. 18.
Winner of the FemFest 2016 Bake-Off, Jessy Ardern presents a reading of her play in progress, Kit and Joe.

For ages 6 and up, Castlemoon Theatre presents Grounded Heroes. 10 year old Jess loves Lego, but her friends think it’s childish and weird. While researching a class assignment, Jess encounters three girls from history who were also a little bit weird for their time, and together they discover what it means to be true to yourself.

And you definitely won’t want to miss our closing night! This season, we brought our classic One Night Stand play reading series back with a vengeance. In honour of Winnipeg’s own celebrated female playwrights we’re curating a special One Night Stand dedicated to showcasing works in progress by some of these prolific writers who will be joined by Judith Thompson.

The artistic showcase is going beyond the stage at this year’s International Women’s Week Cabaret of Monologues with the help of our amazing Outreach Coordinator, Audrey Unger! A Masters student at the U of M, Audrey has been working with Sarasvàti Productions since September 2016 as part of her practicum in Peace and Conflict Studies.

“The theatre workshops done with several groups of women in November 2016 were a particular highlight”, said Audrey, who helped to organize these story-gathering workshops at a variety of organizations that serve immigrants and refugees. “Much joy and laughter was shared through interaction with theatre games and new friendships were formed by listening to each other’s stories.” Some of the pieces that will be performed on March 11th were developed directly from these workshops.

Sarasvàti Outreach Coordinator Audrey Unger

Audrey has also been curating an incredible display of visual art in order to highlight this year’s Cabaret theme of “Starting Over”. The collection is made up of pieces in many mediums that have been created by Winnipeg-based artists including photography from the Eritrean Women’s Association and traditional outfits from Uganda and Iraq. Professional Artist Xavier Mutshipayi, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, will be present with his collection of paintings titled “Awakened Consciousness.” Artist Briand-Nelson Mutima will also be present with a collection of his paintings. The lobby installation represents different moments from these artists’ experience as newcomers at various stages of life in Canada. “This is an opportunity for artists to showcase and discuss their work with the public audience”, said Audrey. “It has been a joy to connect with these new faces in the community.”

Professional Artist Xavier Mutshipayi with his collection of paintings titled “Awakened Consciousness.”

There will be interactive opportunities as well! Many of the artists will be there to meet the public and chat about their work. Members of the Canadian Muslim Women’s Institute, who were part of our story-gathering workshops, will be set up in the lobby to share info about their call for donations of winter clothing, blankets, toiletries, and furniture to meet the needs of newly arrived refugees. There will be opportunity to purchase items from Sew Fair, a local fair trade company that employs newcomer women.

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Last but not least, check out our photo booth, where you and your friends can take a selfie with your own call to action. We’ll have #beboldforchange arm bands and signs as part of CUPE’s International Women’s Day 2017 campaign.

You can take part in our lobby installation at the Asper Centre for Theatre & Film before and after the performances on March 11th at 4pm and 8pm. Tickets are just $15 and available on-line or at the door. See you there!

We’ve got a lot of local talent packed into this year’s Cabaret, some familiar faces, and some new to Sarasvati. We’re pleased to introduce to you to some of the cast members of the 2017 International Women’s Week Cabaret of Monologues. Stay tuned next week for part two!

Cherrel Holder is an actress, dancer, and teacher in both arenas. She is a passionate multi-tasker who describes herself as “raw, enthusiastic, and annoyingly positive.” Cherrel will perform In My Country, an exposé of how Canada can appear to some as they arrive from other countries.

Cherrel Holder will perform ‘In My Country’ by Hope McIntyre and the women of IIWR-MB

Erica Wilson will perform ‘Abamii (Rise Up)” by Madison Thomas

Many of you will be familiar with actor Erica Wilson who has worked with Sarasvàti many times, most-recently on Shattered.”I’m a girl with many faces”, says Wilson, “once a women said I had 5, I laughed and told her I currently had 7. I’m a workaholic that tries to do better every single year.” Wilson plays an Ojibwe Activist who finds herself faced with a big choice after speaking out at a rally.

Johanna Burdon is an actor and avid cyclist–perfect for her role in this year’s Cabaret where Johanna plays a character who is part-way through cycling across Canada.”I really like riding my bike”, said Burdon. “It’s my go-to form of transportation because it’s fun, healthy, good for the environment, easy, inexpensive, and reliable.”

Melanee Deschambeault is a full-time student in her 3rd year at U of M. She is an actor as well as one of the facilitators of Sarasvati’s North End Youth Workshop Series. Melanee performs Questions and Answers, a piece that finds a young woman at a challenging moment in her life as she attempts to re-enter the dating world after surviving rape.

And finally introducing Sarah London. Sarah is in her first year of studies at the University of Winnipeg. She was recently the subject of a mini-doc for The Orange Daisy Project which advocates for young women’s mental health. London will perform Wild Orchid, the monologue of a young woman with Autism who is trying to come to terms with the idea of breaking patterns.

Johanna Burdon will perform ‘Three Totems’ by Natalie Frijia

Sarah London will perform ‘Wild Orchid’ by Bev Brenna

Melanee Deschambeault will perform ‘Questions and Answers’ by Sonya Ballantyne

We caught up with these performers to ask them a few fun questions and get to know them better as they begin buckling down to rehearse!

If you could wake up tomorrow with any new skill, what would it be?Erica Wilson: Contortionist, hands down. Its always been in the back of my mind but the way I’m going its such an unreachable goal.Sarah London: A photographic memory to expand my capacity for knowledge.Johanna Burdon: To be able to speak, write, and understand every language.Melanee Deshcambeault: I would love to bilingual. French would be awesome!Cherrel Holder: Sing like Lea Michelle.

Who is a local woman that inspires you?
Cherrel Holder: My mom, Junette Holder, because she is a single parent from a third world country who fought to bring me and my two sisters to Canada for a better life, and in doing so has taught me the value of love and forgiveness.Erica Wilson: I have been able to meet and work with so many kick-ass women in my life, just to name a few, Madison Thomas (also the playwright for the monologue I’m performing), Frances Koncan, Victoria Perrie, Emily Barker and Dee Thomas are just doing so well for themselves.Sarah London:Your mom…just kidding. My mom inspires me, I probably don’t know your mom.

What would you do if you won a million dollars?Sarah London: I would invest it, learn to play the stock market, take risks. Turn that million into millions.
Johanna Burdon: Put half of it in a fund of some sort, so that it would grow, and spend the other producing theatre/donating to theatre companies.
Erica Wilson: I’d pay off my mom’s debt, get her into her own little house fully paid and utilities paid for up to 20 years. Once that’s done pay my rent off for a year and travel. I’m a simple gal.

If you had to start over again in a new place, where would you want to go?Cherrel Holder: New York – especially if it was Christmas!Melanee Deschambeault: I would love to go to Montreal and audition for the National Theater School Of Canada.Johanna Burdon: I can’t imagine getting a better start in any other city.

We are excited to get down to work with such an amazing cast. For more info on the pieces, or to get tickets visit our website!